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Android Distribution Updated for July 2014 – Kit Kat Now at 18%

Google updated its Android distribution numbers this afternoon, showing yet another steady increase to 18% of the Android user base being Kit Kat users. Last month, Kit Kat – the most recent version of Android available to the public – was listed at about 14%, still way behind Jelly Bean with 58%.

This month, not too much has changed, as Jelly Bean still commands the field at 56.5%. While a minor decrease is taking place in Jelly Bean’s numbers, it’s basically at a snail’s pace.

The older Android builds continue to fall as well, with Ice Cream Sandwich sitting at 11.4%, Gingerbread at 13.5%, and Froyo at 0.7%.

When you have almost a billion phones circulating throughout the globe, its gonna take awhile for those numbers to climb. There are far too many low end/obsolete android phones out there saturating the market that will probably never go above JB in some cases. Hell, if you are still rocking an OG Droid X, you are probably still on gingerbread, unless you are running a custom ROM.

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Muhammed Kadir Yücel

If Samsung updated the Galaxy S3 international version to KitKat, it wil be near % 45 of usage 😛

pilot25

and this is why apple fanbois laugh at Android….. 17.9% KK is sad really sad.

Kevin

I’m pretty sure Apple fanboys couldn’t care less about Android.

Mike Ennamorato

Don’t forget that a large majority are on 4.1+, even ICS is still “decent” to use.

Derp Hurr-Durr

Genius.

I love it when clueless morons try to pretend they know things.

What actually matters are how many of the folks in that chart above are on the latest Goolge Player Services API. Want to take a guess? (Hint: It’s a hell of a lot more than 18%.)

pilot25

Who cares?? If you want to market a product to make it to the masses advertising Google Player Services API isn’t going to cut it. Why do you think Google has finally started to prevent Samsung et al from putting their overlay garbage on devices. They know they can’t catch up to Apple unless they are able to have a marketable product. Once that happens then we won’t have to wait weeks or even months to get apps that have been on Crapple forever first.

Google Play Services API ‘s latest version is @ around 93% penetration of all devices checking in over the last 30 days. This includes Gingerbread. OS version means so much less than it used to.

I can understand the Apple fantards going apeshit over the numbers above, but honestly, guys…you should all know better.

FortitudineVincimus

My future phone has L or nothing for me.. I don’t give a shizz about froyo, jb, kk, any of that nonsense. Let’s get on with L.

starscream

My dad finally upgraded his Droid x… One less person on that fantastic version.

Chad

Fragmentated much?! Seriously, I do love android. But 18% after nearly a year isn’t a good number. And some wonder why we get good apps so much later than iOS or why they run like garbage compared to the iOS counterparts.

TechTinker11

Not really, I mean yes. Well this is a big bump, and KitKat has had a dang good adaption rate. Back in the Gingerbread days, updates weren’t needed besides security, their wasn’t as much changes, and no one really updated, and OEMS especially Samsung flooded the markets beyond their control. So we’re left with that bubble until users get their mind together.

Plus Android has Play Services so even if its not on the latest OS version, its get some of the newer features, something Apple can’t touch. The device may run the latest version, but its a half baked version of it.

I never had a issue with apps running like garbage compared if it wasn’t a straight one of port.

MistaButters

Serious question: which apps do you have that are significantly worse on Android or that you can’t find a reasonable alternative?

Daniel

I tend to notice that a lot of the smaller indie dev studios release to iOS first, and those apps also tend to be the ones that have really nice design, smooth animations, and an overall pleasant user experience, and are much more targeted at specific niches. But the presence of those apps go a long way toward attracting a wide range of users. It makes the iPhone a phone that can be used for special fields of work, rather than just a general “email and Google Docs” type of work. Examples of major categories that I’ve noticed from my searches:

– Everything for musicians. Pitch pipe, metronome, chord dictionary, you name it. I really envy iOS users who have a large pool of actually decent music apps. I’ve done a ton of searching and there isn’t one that’s not either from Android 2.x days or uses a dull “Holo Dark” theme. Even GarageBand, which even though it’s an Apple app, you can’t deny that a lot of people use it.
– Writing apps. “Draft” awhile back was decent. It came out about a year ago, I bought it, but it was abandoned; Jotterpad is currently the best but it’s decent at best in both design and functionality. On iOS… oh god.. iA Writer, Daedalus, Byword, Editorial, Write, Scratch, and that’s just the surface. And I should note that I’ve tried most of them and they actually feel like an app that I want to sit down and WRITE in, unlike Jotterpad.
– Hardcore productivity apps. Android has to-do lists. And major multi-platform, everyday productivity apps. And the occasional pomodoro timer. iOS has killer GTD productivity apps, basically you just have to see OmniFocus.
– Lifestyle apps. A decent journal app such as Day One. The current best Android counterpart stil runs horribly. And photography – iOS has Adobe Lightroom, and a very good version at that.

Granted, these are niche apps, and not everyone needs good design, but Android users have just as much of a right to have good taste in design. Google has made large efforts, but it can’t be denied that for the near future, the only ones using Material are going to be Google and the major third-party developers. All of these niche apps on iOS is what attracts so diverse of a user base. It leaves us Android users looking for professional mobile apps in the dark.

deepen915

what does fragmentation mean when the Play Services get updated no matter what?

Derp, Hurr-durr

Latest Google Play API: ~93% of the platform.

Fragmentation, as you understand it, is a myth.

But hey, at least you got to get all angsty online, right?

ThinkB4Uspeak

iOS is fragmented too, and so is OSX. Don’t go throwing stones in apple houses

Swoops212

What no Android L preview results?

Kevin

The amount of people on L is so small it wouldn’t be of any importance to the chart.

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Perhaps many of them are no longer “phones”. Maybe they are being used as alarm clocks, media players, or to keep kids occupied on road-trips.

Seriously.

D1-4Evere

My Droid 1 runs Froyo, just because it’s not my daily driver doesn’t mean I can’t have it hooked up to wifi and use a music and alarm clock everyday. Even still using the original battery which gets 5 hours of use before a charge.

Raven

My Droid 2 still serves as a clock and occasional media player. Sometimes I just hit Update All to mess with Google.

Michael Carannante

I know somebody with a phone running froyo.

evan brown

DIE GINGERBREAD DIE

emrikol

The Gingerbread, The?

Droid Ronin

No one who speaks German could be an evil man.

Mike Ennamorato

Oh, really?

Droid Ronin

Yes, it was a Simpsons reference.

Renan Rennó

The equivalent word for “bread” in German uses the article DAS, so your argument is invalid ^^

Why, Evan? Why?

Why?

Michael Suriel

Froyo just needs to die. Get the people that are still on Froyo to get that Android One phone.

Droid Ronin

or a Moto E/G

Raven

I still use my Droid 2 as a dedicated clock and media player and it will never get upgraded. My daily driver phone runs Kit Kat.

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